I had to do it. It’s French and very different from its contemporaries, and the Meng kit is pretty good.
The box:
IMG_5147 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
I got it at a show, waited until the tracks from R-Model showed and got after it. About four hours got me this far:
IMG_5149 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
It’s going together nicely, no complaints other than this particular set of tracks need a LOT of cleanup, the only set of R-Model tracks I’ve bought that did.
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Nearly out of box,quite a departure for you Russ,must be tough,but looking good
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I’ve been sweating while I work on it… that and there’s next to nothing in the way of useful AM for it. 
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I got some quality time with plastic last night, my Friday night end of week reward to myself.
It’s going together nicely. I subbed the spare tracks on the hull side for some R-Model spare links, for consistency and looks. The kit spares weren’t great…
I’ve added weld beads where needed, using stretched sprue. Meng really did pretty good but there are a few that are very visible they didn’t do.
IMG_5153 by Russel Baer, on Flick
IMG_5152 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
I really should grab the French crew figs from Djiti. They would emphasize the slight weirdness of the whole tank.
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I jumped ahead in the assembly sequence a bit to the turret. I was curious to see how it would go together, and how it would look too. I like the 20mm co-ax that can be de-coupled from the main gun, and Meng designed the kit this way. I was also impressed with the side stowage baskets on the turret. They were well supported on the sprue, necessary as they are fairly complex and appear fragile. I cleaned them up on the sprue best as possible, removed and installed them, waited for the glue to set and then finished the cleanup. They had quite a bit of flash to remove. And since I have a thing about it, I removed all the molded-on blobs that represented footman’s loops and replaced them with small gauge wire.
IMG_5154 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
IMG_5155 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
The dust shield on the mantlet is molded in soft plastic, nicely detailed and adhered to the mantlet with CA glue. Good job Meng.
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I had some happy time last night so I did some more assembly and started texturing on the turret.
I’ll soften the turret texturing a bit as the real thing appears to be pretty clean. I just wasn’t fond of the OOB finish of dead smooth.
I’m enjoying this build so much that I’m already shopping the Tiger Models AMX-30 Brennus kit. It’s out there but it’s pricey.
From where I sit the texture on the turret looks fine. About the tracks, how were they to assemble and where did you get them?
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Some parts of the turret are a little more rough than others, hard to see in the pics.
The tracks were packaged in too small of a container so I had quite a few deformed links. Most straightened easily. A few were too bad to use but plenty of spares are included.
I had to clean the holes with a .020" drill on about half the links, a lot for this brand (R-Model). I also think the included pins were of less than normal quality, contributing to slow assembly. Next time I’ll make pins from .018" steel wire.
I sourced them from eBay, about $40 including shipping.
Thanks, I’ll check them out. Looking for ones for an M1A2 that won’t break the bank.
I would take a look at CRS Tankwerks. They’re 3D printed, one-piece links and very reasonably priced. I have an order on the way from them, looking forward to seeing them in person.
I’m thinking this kit is more “AFV Club” than “Tamiya”: lots of small parts, finely detailed but delicate. It’s still going together though.
IMG_5158 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
IMG_5159 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
The hull is done except for the driver’s hatch, not sure if it will be open or closed.
Edit: Pics can be good. I noticed the bent exhaust flap in the pic, just finished fixing it…